North Carolina History & Heritage
Located at the crossroads of Native culture and American History, seeped in stories of maritime legend and military conflict, and rooted in red clay and moonshine, North Carolina history and heritage spans the centuries with a unique flavour unlike any other in America. From Cherokee crafts to stately lighthouses, pirates to pottery, and battlefields to race cars, NC is proudly bursting at the seams with tales to tell and history to experience. Better yet, all is easily accessible to the interested traveller.
The Qualla Boundary
Among the state’s earliest residents, the Cherokee tale in North Carolina is one of pride and prosperity, of repression and renewal. The Cherokee settled in the southern Appalachian mountains hundreds of years ago, and remained there until forcibly removed from their ancestral home by the US Government in 1838-39 along the now infamous ‘Trail Of Tears.’ The few who were allowed to remain in the region formed the Eastern band of the Cherokee. Today, the area governed by the Cherokee people is officially known as the “Qualla Boundary”, and is alive with crafts, heritage, and history.
Summertime visitors to the area can experience Cherokee culture through the colorful pageantry of the outdoor drama “Unto These Hills”, which traces the history of the Cherokee from the tribe’s beginnings to the present day. Visitors can delve deeper into the story at the Museum Of The Cherokee Indian, where a holographic ‘conjure man’ takes his guests deep into the culture and legends of the people. Then, at the Oconaluftee Indian Village, Cherokee crafts take centre stage in a reborn 1750’s settlement. Those who come here can see demonstrations in pottery, basket weaving, and mask carving, and hear the stories behind these ancient native arts. Finally, visitors wanting a piece of Cherokee culture to take home can visit the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, where native craft work has been raised to the level of high art.
Pirates and Lighthouses
While the Cherokee were still ruling the high country, the shallow sounds and inlets of North Carolina’s coast were becoming havens for some of the sea’s most notorious pirates. The fearsome Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, made the Pamlico Sound settlements of Edenton and Bath Town (now Bath) his base of operations. The NC Coast is sprinkled with pieces of pirate history, from the presumed wreck of Blackbeard’s flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge discovered in Beaufort Inlet, to the waters off of Ockracoke Inlet where he fought his final fatal battle. The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort has an extensive exhibit on Blackbeard and other seafaring scalawags that called the North Carolina coast home.
However, pirates weren’t the only reason that mariners and merchants feared the NC coast. In fact, the multiple hazards of hurricanes, strong currents, and navigational challenges combined to give the area off of the Outer Banks the title of “Graveyard Of The Atlantic”. More than 2,000 ships are known to have wrecked here, and countless lives lost. At the Graveyard Of The Atlanic Museum in Hatteras, visitors can see many exhibits dedicated to nautical history in these treacherous waters.
The hazards of the sea also led to the construction of some of North Carolina’s most recognisable coastal structures, our lighthouses. The most famous of our historic light stations is Cape Hatteras which is the world’s tallest brick lighthouse and still operates today after being moved 2,899 feet inland to save it from erosion. Other distinguished lighthouses on the NC coast include the Currituck Beach Light Station, the Bodie Island Light, the Ocracoke Lighthouse, the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, and “Old Baldy”, the state’s oldest standing lighthouse.
A Hotbed of Rebellion
Early residents of North Carolina were well known for an independent streak (British General Cornwallis famously declared 18th century Charlotte a ‘Hornet’s Nest of rebellion’), and the state’s position in the middle of the country made it pivotal in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. To this day, there are dozens of places across North Carolina where visitors can still feel the fury of historic military conflict.
At the mouth of the Cape Fear River, you can find the archeological remains of Brunswick, a thriving Cape Fear port city that was sacked by British Troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. North of Greensboro is the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, where you can tour the scene of a decisive battle on March 15, 1781 that led directly to the British surrender in at Yorktown in October.
Eighty years later, North Carolina became one of the last states to secede from the US, and was plunged into the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. Amateur Civil War historians have a virtual treasure trove of sites to explore in North Carolina, including Roanoke Island, which was occupied by Union troops early in the war and was developed into a colony for freed slaves, complete with churches, farms and businesses.
Further down the coast, the South was still holding onto the port of Wilmington, which became the last Confederate port open to the blockade runners supplying its armies. The city was protected by Fort Fisher, until the Union Army launched two amphibious assaults on it during the winter of 1864-65. Today, you can visit the fort, known as “The Gibraltar Of The South” , which finally fell on January 15, 1865, bringing about a swift end to the Confederacy. You can also visit the scene of the final Civil War battle in North Carolina at Bentonville, which actually came after Robert E. Lee’s surrender and the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Today, the guns and cannons of North Carolina’s battlefields are thankfully silent, but visitors can relive those days at the state’s many historical sites and battle re-enactments by downloading copies of the Revolutionary or Civil War Trails guides.
From Moonshine To Motorsports
By the early 20th century, a few North Carolina residents were engaged in new acts of rebellion, this time against federal taxes on a homemade whiskey known as ‘moonshine’. Daring drivers would load up their vehicles with the alcohol and soup up their engines in an effort to avoid federal ‘revenuers’, playing a high speed game of hide-and-seek along twisting mountain roads. Eventually, however, those rebellious roadsters found a legal outlet for their need for speed. In 1948, a promoter named Bill France founded NASCAR, and suddenly, stock car racing came out of the cornfield and into the spotlight.
Today, NASCAR is a Sunday afternoon sports staple across the country, and North Carolina is its heart and soul. From the history of the Petty Family Museum in Randleman to the race team garages in Mooresville to the hallowed pavement of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, no racing-based pilgrimage is complete without a visit to North Carolina. And don’t forget, uptown Charlotte will be the home of NASCAR’s Hall Of Fame when it opens in 2010!
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Visit NC
Come see the State of North Carolina's official tourism web site! With listings of upcoming events and facinating stories of our people and places, you'll find everything you need to begin planning your NC experience.
